The Hardware Societe

Everything is good except for the guy with specs that is taking down names. He’s really cocky and when I reached at 2, he told me that he might not be able to put me in and get a table. This was after I repeatedly told him that I’m bringing my friends who just touched down to melb and that we came all the way from suburb. Not helpful at all. Food wise, it’s good. Not so much w the host outside

Sadly I was very disappointed by my recent dining experience at The Hardware Societe. I’ve had this place bookmarked for ages & all the other positive reviews & pictures of delicious food had well & truly sold it to me.
There is always a queue outside, therefore when I arrived I joined it. Only to then see people turn up from nowhere & go in ahead of those in the queue. I inquired with the server as to if there was a booking system & was instructed that I should have read the sign (said sign simply said that a server would be with you once you joined the queue, no reference to giving your name to them before joining the end).
Thankfully the wait was not too long & we were shown to our table. The table had barely been cleaned from the last diners & we were left with a half empty bottle of warm water rather than being provided with a fresh one.
I ordered the baked eggs, which were over cooked when they landed on the table and having come straight out of the oven obviously continued to cook & despite stirring vigorously as I had been advised to do by the server they ultimately became burnt & stuck to the pot… all very unpleasant. The only positive was that the pesto bread was tasty.
My friend simply opted for some gluten free toast & again we were left a little dismayed when she lifted the lid off the butter dish to discover that it only contained a smear of crumby butter. Just one choice of preserve was provided which had a fly enjoying it’s lunch probably more than we did!!!
I appreciate that this place is busy with a high turnover but poor customer service & not restocking the basics is not acceptable when you’re paying a slightly above average price.

Amazing food, amazing atmosphere and amazing service! The place to visit if you want to experience the best brunch in Melbourne.

This place is always pumping no matter what time of the week you visit! And rightly so, fantastic and friendly service, lovely atmosphere and delicious Padre coffee. These guys just keep smashing it and have gone from strength to strength. Its also worth checking out their little sister Bower to Williamsburg across the lane which is relatively new. Also front of House man Aaron is a total babezilla which always helps ;) Keep it up Hardware Societe!

This is one of the best brunches I’ve have ever had!
My girlfriend and I were visiting from San Francisco and heard about Hardware Societe. This place lives us to the hype. I got the omelette with jambon and my gf got the salmon creatively cooked 3 different ways. The food was exceptional and the ambience/​service was very friendly and welcome, despite the growing long lines. They are right, get there early however you will not be disappointed!

We had breakfast here two days in a row. It was that great. The first day we had the baked eggs (called deux). It was the one with chorizo in it and it came in a tiny pot straight out of the oven. So delicious. On
the second day we tried the pork belly with egg dish and it was amazing. Try getting there before 9am or after 1pm otherwise the wait could be up to 40 minutes. We got there at 905 and had a reasonable 15 minute wait. Ten minutes after we got there the line was twice as long. The orange juice is freshly squeezed and I would definitely recommend. Once you’re seated your food arrives quickly and the service was great. Well worth the wait. A must try.

There’s a reason why there’s a constant queue (and it’s a long one) out this shop! The food is great, the coffee is great, the setting is great!
You basically cannot go wrong to visit this joint if you are a foodie! While the setting is no first date romantic, it is a trendy place where you can get a nice setting with great food!
The food there is generally more fusion, where you get interesting combinations and overall it’s just pure brilliance! I reckon just looking at he menu and discussing what they are is already a fun game!
Food as expected is great, so I won’t discuss much here. Go experience it yourself!
Note, it is not exactly cheap, and yes you better get there early to avoid the minimum 1 hr queue.

One word, wow. I’ve been here 6 times but this is the first time I’ve actually managed to get a table and eat here without waiting over an hour. I can see why this place is always busy. Always thought this place couldn’t be that good for a 2hr wait but only waited 10 minutes this time which was surprising.
Firstly ordered an iced mocha while my dad ordered a cider. The serving size of the cider was tiny for $ 9 but even the iced mocha which by the way was amazing the serving size was a little small but nevertheless the food was the reason why we came.
Service was very good and the ambience was good too seated on the shared marble table was nice which is better than a wooden table anyway.
A first glance at the menu and was blown away, salmon milfeulle, lobster brioche roll, Croque Madame. I ordered the salmon milfeulle while my dad got the lobster brioche roll.
The salmon millfeulle came with a perfectly cooked seared/​pan fried salmon which had beautiful texture and the best thing was no oil!
The millfeulle part had the common pastry crust on the top and bottom, texture perfect, crispy yet still can cut with a knife pretty well. The inside had the flavourous avocado purée and the beautiful raw salmon mix. Packed with flavour definitely the best part of the dish.
Poached eggs also came with the dish which were poached great and the charred asparagus along with salmon eggs/​caviar was a nice touch and add to the vivid flavours in this dish.
My dad’s lobster brioche roll came with well cooked lobster, poached eggs in a brioche bun and asparagus with it. The lobster was cooked perfect, very juicy and packed with flavour.
Overall this is the best brunch place in Melbourne. The inventiveness of the flavours they can put in iconic breakfast dishes along with the great cooking make this the place to beat. No wonder it has been at the top of zomato and Unilocal for a long time along with the long wait to get in.
Will definitely want to come back but depends on the wait of course, not even this place is worth a two hour wait. But still give this the credit it deserves!

Great breakfast place hidden off what seems like an alleyway. The baked egg No. Deux was great and the Lobster Benedict was good, but seemed to be missing some flavor. The Fried Brioche was phenomenal, but a little rich. It is a little pricey, but well worth it. Everything here fit, the décor, the food and the ambiance.

one of the most popular restaurants in melbourne, therefore really busy. luckily i was by myself that morning and didn’t have to wait to be seated. i sat by the kitchen and got to watch them make the food which was amazing.
i would suggest the baked eggs or the salmon or the lobster benedict with a coffee (pretty coffee art!). i wish i came with someone so i could try more dishes!

Worth the long wait — cute spot for brunch with date or catch up with friends over the weekend. Pork belly was rich but perfectly cooked. Be prepared to make some new friends if you are a small group and you get placed on the large communal table. Fun and helpful as you get to see up close and ask what people ordered before you order from their impressive menu. Definitely coming back to try their other items!

Who doesn’t love a hearty breakfast? And this restaurant definitely served some of the best breakfast dishes that I’ve ever had! My friends and I had the Lobster Benedict and Baked Eggs. Both were out of this world! I love eggs benedicts and I love lobsters, so when I saw lobster benedict on the menu, it was a no-​brainer. And boy was it a good choice! There were chunks of lobster sitting on a buttery brioche, with perfectly poached eggs on top covered in a blanket of hollandaise sauce. It was definitely that best eggs benedict I’ve ever had. My friend chose to order the Baked Eggs. At first I had my doubts, as it sounded a bit boring, but he insisted on getting it based on the reviews of others, and I was so glad that he did. This was a very unique dish and I’m not sure how to best describe it; each bite was just such an amazing explosion of flavours in my mouth. If you came here and could only get one thing, definitely try the Baked Eggs as you wouldn’t be able to get this anywhere else!
It is a very cozy restaurant, with not too many tables. The service was very quick and friendly, but we never felt rushed even though we could see the line starting to form outside. We came around 10am on a weekday, and were seated within 10 mins.

Fantastic food and great service! We came on a Friday morning so wait was very short and we were seated in a large shared table, we ordered the baked eggs veg version and fried brioche we shared between the two of us, everything was delicious and the coffee was amazing. Highly recommended :)
PS we came the next day and it was just as good!

The chef was accommodating! The food was artful and delicious. The breakfast options were rich, and inspired. Everything was cooked to order impeccably. The poached eggs with mushrooms was so tasty and memorable. We were visiting Melbourne for the first time from Los Angeles, CA. We would recommend this place for a hearty and comforting breakfast.

Good brunches, coffee and cakes but I hate waiting in line so we basically never go.
As others have said the baked eggs are not to be missed. I watched how the guy did it and then ripped it off at home — surprisingly easy and no waiting in line :)
Many of the gluten free cakes are also pretty good.

Cute little french place on hardware lane in the city. A nice and cosy place to have some breakfast and coffee with some of your gal pals or your partner. Have tried most of the dishes on the menu and there is nothing to fault. My favourite dish here is the baked eggs. So delicious. Wouldn’t get it anywhere else

I had the fried brioche and a French earl grey tea. Both were beautiful and of course, worth the small 10 minute queue (it was, after all, a Thursday afternoon), however I don’t believe the quality of the food was worth the price. Further I don’t know if it was where I was seated (a cramped circular shared seating arrangement mind you) but the restaurant seems to have a pesky fly problem. There was a small swarm around where I was eating!
All in all, it’s a nice place to eat and I would recommend any one to give it a chance if they haven’t yet. But bare in mind there are other places for breakfast/​brunch within the CBD who deal excellent meals for a portion of HS’s prices.

Beautiful breakfast, absolutely everything on the menu looks and sounds delicious.
There is a line, so you do need to get there for 8.30am to get a seat.
I ordered a decadent hot chocolate, imagine a glob of chocolate in a mug served with a pot of hot milky goodness to pour over!
Breakfast consisted of baked chorizo eggs and Spanish peppers. It was so delicious! I can’t wait to come back!

Okay so we had to wait an hour on Easter weekend for a table here. and then we were out of there 30 mins after being seated! So efficiency is key here, even if there’s a bit of a line to begin with.
While this place isn’t really suitable to become your new inner city local, it’s definitely worthy of being on your ‘cafes to visit in Melbourne’ list, and everyone should drop by once or twice. Awesome food and coffee, pretty ace service and it doesn’t break the bank.
I had some kind of pork belly thing with eggs and it was phenomenal.

The Hardware Societe must be one of my favourite brekkie spot ever since it first opened. They changed their delicious menu regularly to tease and tantalise tastebuds.
Not to miss are their ever changing fried brioche, today I had the brioche atopped with poached quince, hazelnut & chocolate spread, roasted hazelnut and pistachio. This is probably as close as I could get to heaven. The richness of the hazelcho spread was balanced with the slightly tart honey poached quince and even though I was super full I kept digging into it as it was simply sensational. Thankfully I also had their lovely licorice, fennel and mint tea to go with this.
If I wasn’t having the brioche, I’d probably go with the scrambled eggs or the baked eggs. Once again the flavours changes regularly. One time the scramble might come with a salmon baguette, the next you might get prawns with it. I would probably pair this with their hot chocolate… yummmmm
If you are feeling starved, I would highly recommend their croque monsieur. I am never that famished but did have a taste of my friend’s croque monsieur and it was amazzzzzing.
The Hardware Societe also has a mini food store section where they sell jams, lollies, baguettes and drinks. Definitely worth checking it out as well!